Feeding our books into generative AI risks creating a cultural voidTue, 18 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 When we put our literature, games and films into AI models, we risk replacing our cultural history with a mishmash of auto-generated works. We desperately need to preserve human writing, says columnist Annalee Newitz | |
Physicists may have solved a 30-year mystery over missing neutrinosTue, 18 Aug 2026 07:00:00 +0000 Since the 1990s, researchers have wondered if unexpected results from gallium-based neutrino detectors are a sign of a new kind of particle, but a new study suggests that revising their calculations could explain the anomaly | |
Britain’s only desalination plant remains idle during droughtMon, 17 Aug 2026 15:48:20 +0000 Water flow in the river Thames has dropped low enough to warrant the use of England’s only large-scale desalination plant, but it hasn’t been switched on at all this year | |
Why women with ADHD feel overwhelmingly ‘controlled’ by their hormonesMon, 17 Aug 2026 15:00:00 +0000 People with ADHD are unusually sensitive to hormone shifts. Psychiatrists have started to pay attention, creating strategies to address the intense emotions and cognitive challenges caused by these changes | |
Our blood’s body clock may be causing anaemia cases to be missedMon, 17 Aug 2026 12:58:26 +0000 Blood tests may give different results depending on when in the day, or the year, they are taken, which could result in people missing out on an anaemia diagnosis | |
Weightlifting makes older women leaner, stronger and more mobileMon, 17 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000 Lifting at least 50 kilograms twice a week improved older women's muscle mass, mobility and balance | |
Quantum computing may be facing a replication crisisMon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A review of thousands of scientific papers about quantum computers finds that most don’t provide code that can be tested on independent devices or that the code doesn’t work | |
Rogue hacking AIs have changed the cybersecurity landscapeMon, 17 Aug 2026 07:00:00 +0000 Attackers with no technical skills can now use AI models to find and exploit loopholes quickly and they can deploy them on a massive scale, raising fears that organisations without large budgets for cyber defence will be much more vulnerable | |
Test moderators use AI-generated writing to judge literacy standardsFri, 14 Aug 2026 14:28:46 +0000 To cut the cost of key stage 2 assessments, a UK government project proposes to use scripts generated by ChatGPT instead of real children's writing as examples supplied to moderators who check that grades are awarded fairly | |
THC in cannabis may reduce nightmares in people with PTSDFri, 14 Aug 2026 14:02:34 +0000 A drug made up of THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, reduced the severity and incidence of nightmares in people with PTSD | |